“The Treasury is anticipating” a parliamentary warning to Rafidain Bank of strict US sanctions.
“The Treasury is anticipating” a parliamentary warning to Rafidain Bank of strict US sanctions.
2025-03-15 07:31
Shafaq News/ The Deputy Chairman of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Ikhlas al-Dulaimi, warned on Saturday of the possibility of the US Treasury imposing sanctions on Rafidain Bank if it continues with procedures marred by regulatory concerns .
Al-Dulaimi told Shafaq News Agency, “Rafidain Bank, like any private bank, is subject to the instructions and regulations of the US Treasury Department, pursuant to an agreement with the Central Bank of Iraq and the international company charged with monitoring the work of banks in Iraq.”
According to Al-Dulaimi, the international company pointed out the existence of violations in the work of Rafidain Bank, which prompted the bank to contract with a foreign company with the aim of improving its performance and addressing these observations .
Al-Dulaimi pointed out that “the bank’s continued operation according to its previous procedures could lead to US sanctions being imposed on it, along with other private banks, if the recorded violations are not corrected.”
On January 30, 2025, US Republican Representative Joe Wilson renewed his attacks on Iraq, this time by calling for sanctions against the state-run Rafidain Bank, accusing it of being a “money laundering machine” for the Iranian regime and its agents to obtain dollars.
Wilson wrote in a blog post on X that “the US Treasury and Federal Reserve, under Joe Biden and his envoy (Brett McGurk), have allowed Rafidain Bank, Iraq’s largest state-owned bank, to become a money laundering machine for the Iranian regime and its agents to obtain US dollars.”
These demands have raised concerns among financial and banking experts about the repercussions of this approach if implemented on Iraqi government banks, according to a previous interview with Shafaq News Agency on this issue .
shafaq.com
